Empty Night
by OliverTurnip
Summary: Evangeline Mcdowell is running for her life and not from a familiar face. Negima!xDresden files crossover. Criticism is wanted.
1. Excitement

**Empty night**

_A Negima x Dresden files crossover. I don't own Mahou Sensei Negima nor do I own the Dresden Files._

It was a cold night at Mahora Academy. The only thing that could be heard was the wind whistling through the trees and the full moon gave everything a sinister glow.

It was also the night that Evangeline Mcdowell was running for her life.

Granted something that shouldn't be said so lightly but you have to call a spade a spade. Her breath was labored and her small, black heart was hammering in her chest as she ran down the silent street. She did not like this, not one single bit. It reminded her when she first became a vampire. Confused, angry and a whole lot terrified.

Her plan was going so perfectly as well. She feasted upon more girls and spread the rumours about the vampire at Sakura Lane to lure that Nagi's boy. She waited for him and he came along pretending to be a knight in shining armour. She was going to drink his blood and be freed from this stupid curse. But then that wizard…

Her thoughts were interrupted as an enraged shout "_Fuego!"_ Came at her and she had to leap to the side to avoid the pole of pure white flames aiming for her small body.

"Damnit, damnit!" She muttered a chant and threw a couple of catalysts behind her, not bothering to see if they hit her target. She heard her chaser shouted a curse and only then she stopped to look around.

All she could see at first were large icicles, courtesy of her spell. She shrieked in triumph and relief. But then the icicles shifted to the man's side. The ice was held an inch away from the man by some invincible barrier. Then it suddenly dropped to the floor as he released it to fully reveal him.

Her chaser was a tall man, about 6'8 maybe taller. He had short brown hair. His face had sharp features and many scars on it from past battles. He had a wiry frame with strong, trained legs. In his right hand he was equipped with a staff that had runes engraved into it. In his left hand he had what looked to be a wooden rod. He wore a duster that reached down to his knees.

Oh yeah, he also looked royally pissed as hell.

Evangeline turned away quickly and ran with new vigor. She considered to fly but remembered the last time she attempted that she was swatted down like a fly. So she decided that she had to lose him through the vast winding streets than fly away. Another feeling slowly made its way into Evangeline's heart. Excitement. She cannot remember the last time she ran for her life. Was it one hundred, two hundred years? She was humoring this new feeling and but all completely forgot why she was running for her life in the first place.

The scream from the beanstalk (dubbed by herself) "_Forzare_!" ripped her back into reality. She turned around to see which way to leap but saw nothing. Never the less she could feel something coming her way and leapt to the side again.

The raw kinetic energy only clipped her but Evangeline felt like she was hit by the side of a charging rhinocerous. She flew into the wall and the world was too cruel to let her smash through it. Instead she hit the wall with bone shattering impact. She felt her shoulder snap and she bit her tongue to muffle the scream. She looked up, eyes wide with fear to see the man calmly walking towards her his eyes full of fury.

"You were all supposed to be dead!"Beanstalk shouted in English, not bothering to keep the rage out of his voice, "I killed her for you all to die, to save my daughter, to end all the suffering done by your kind's hands. You're supposed to be fucking dead!"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Evangeline screamed back, "Why are you doing this? Keep to your own affairs!"

All she got back was a snarl. The wizard lifted up his staff to deal the final blow and Evangeline flinched away. 'Pathetic.' She thought, 'I am going to die here after all I have been through because of some random pissed of man. And I was so close to seeing him again.' She closed her eyes awaiting the final blow.

That never came. She heard the wizard grunt in pain and she opened her eyes to see him flying from a kick to the side by Chachamaru. The android turned around to her Evangeline.

"Are you okay master?"Chachamaru said, her voice layered with concern. She offered her hand down to her master. Evangeline gripped her hand hard and her face slackened with relief. Then it turned into rage as she dragged Chachamaru down and tugged on her cheeks painfully.

"Where the hell have you been you stupid android? You were supposed to come as soon as I was in trouble. What took you so long!"

"Ibe sorrib master. I was helbed back." She try to say not even bothering to fight back against her master.

"Hmph. I'll forgive you this time. I could've handled him anyway." She let go of her faithful minion's cheeks and smiled softly at her. "Thanks."

The rare heartfelt moment was interrupted by the wizard who was getting up noisily and muttering "Shit" under his breath. He turned around to look at them with body tensed with rage.

"Hey, I'm still alive." Beanstalk whispered angrily. He pointed his blasting rod at them and hurled another blast of fire. Chachamaru grabbed her master and jumped out of harm's way. The wall that Evangeline was leaning on melted into a pile of slush. Chachamaru landed and dropped Evangeline carefully onto the road and leapt at the man, fist held over her head.

"Bitch, bring it!" The wizard roared in reply to her challenge. Then the man shook his right arm to reveal a bracelet with medieval shields. He held up his arm to Chachamaru and she smashed into the barrier and bounced off. She fell to the floor and went into a roll. She stood up and was about to charge again until he spoke and she halted suddenly.

"Hey, did that vampire called you an android? You know a robot with all those electrical things?" He asked, his face covered by shadows.

"Yes, that is correct. I am an android that is functioned to protect her master at all costs, even from you Harry Dresden."

Even with his covered, you could still clearly see the wolfish smile that grew on his face.

"Hmm my luck must be finally changing." Harry raised his arm to Chachamaru whom went on guard. But she could not see what was coming.

"_Hexus._" He snarled. Silence past for a few seconds as both man and cyborg stood completely still. Then a few hisses and pops were heard from Chachamaru's body. Suddenly her right shoulder exploded into flames and she was thrown violently to the ground. She convulsed on the floor a few times and then stopped moving all together.

Evangeline stood up quickly and through a catalyst at the wizard but he was ready for it and they unleashed their power harmlessly against his shield. Harry screamed incoherently dropped the shield and screamed "_Forzare_" and the raw kinetic energy flew towards Evangeline. She cursed and muttered a chant putting up a defensive barrier but in her weakened state some energy still broke through. She was hit in the chest and felt her collar bone snapped. She flew several feet back and landed on the ground harshly. A scream escaped her lips.

'That was his name.' Evangeline thought, 'Harry Dresden, Boya's caretaker.'

Harry turned focusing completely on her small form. Something that could be equivalent to a smile crawled across his face and his eyes that long forgotten sanity stared coldly at her. He pulled out his .44 from his duster pocket and drew Evangeline into its sights.

"Now, where were we?"

_To be continued… or back to the where the story began._

Next chapter we'll see what happened at the very start from Harry Dresden's POV and why he came to Japan. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter and hope you can give constructive criticism.


	2. The beginning

I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima nor do I own the Dresden Files.

The beginning

I was about to get some well deserved sleep when someone knocked heavily on the Water Beetle's cabin door.

I muttered a curse and got out of the bunk bed and all but fell on my ass. I just sat there and stared at the door hoping my glare would incinerate the person who knocked on it. I obviously didn't since the person knocked on the door again. So I grudgingly got up and open the stupid thing with a little more force than was needed.

Okay maybe a whole lot more.

A young Warden of the White Council stood there. He looked like he was just at the legal age to drink and he flinched away from me.

"What?" Me big alpha male, ungh.

"Uh," The kid shook his head and he returned to a businesslike manner which was quite impressive "An order for Warden Harry Dresden to attend to a trial in Edinburgh at 4pm today." He said.

I gave him my blankest look possible. "Kid I don't think the White Council has told you that I don't like seeing the execution of people about your age."

To my surprise the kid smiled and chuckled to himself making him seem older. "She said you'll say something like that. She'd also told me if you say that that I'm supposed to tell you this is a message from Captain Luccio."

I blinked at him and snatched the letter. Captain Luccio was one of the few Wardens that I liked and respect. Hell we had something going for a while. But she broke up with me because she realized something was messing with her head to get closer and keep tabs on me. But the main reason is that she probably knows me more than most people. So she must have asked me to come for a reason. I ripped open the letter and read its contents. It said pretty much as the kid Warden said.

"Okay, say that I'll be there." The kid nodded in reply and walked off. I walked back inside the cabin and changed and got ready for the unknown. All that time I was thinking why Luccio asked me to attend the trial? Could the trial be for a suspected member of the Black Council or did she just miss me? 'Yeah right.' I thought. I went out of the Water Beetle and walked into the streets of Chicago a bit before waving down a taxi. I told him where to go and assured him that I was mostly sane.

The drive took about 20 minutes and all the while the sinking feeling in my stomach grew deeper and deeper. We stopped at an alley way and I handed the taxi driver the money as he gave me a weird look. I went down the alley and turned around to see that no one was watching and opened a Way into Nevernever.

The White Council now held all its trials and other meetings at Edinburgh. After the war with the Red Court we have been weakened extremely and thanks to the ever growing paranoia of the White Council they believed everywhere else was unsafe to host their get togethers.

I walked down the pathway to Edinburgh without a single monster wanting to grind my bones to make its bread and arrived at the gates of the White Council's headquarters.

A guard stood there wearing an old school American mafia getup. He had a brown bowler hat with a black bland around it and wore a brown blazer and slacks to match it. Under the blazer he wore a white buttoned up shirt and a red tie. He had black shoes that gleamed in the light and carried in his right hand and I kid you not, a violin case.

Chandler looked up with a friendly smile "Ello Harry."

"Hey, Gaetano. I still don't get why they put you on guard. Surely with your fashion sense every creature of Nevernever would come to ogle you."

"Hell no quite the opposite in fact. They see me and feel so self-conscious of their own attire that they run away in shame."

I didn't quite laugh but it brought a smile to my face "So do you know what's going on?"

Chandler face turned grim "Yeah I do. They got a trial for a warlock and…look I think you have to see for yourself." He opened the gates not bothering with the traditional way. It must be something pretty serious because Chandler takes pride with his job.

The sinking feeling got worse "Thanks." I said as I walked through the gates. I walked through the winding corridors of Edinburgh and even being here a couple of times before; I got lost and hit a couple of dead ends. It took me a full hour to just get to the court.

I entered and there was already about 150 other wardens present. General murmurs of conversation and arguments were all that could be heard. I scanned the court to see the Senior Council in their usual places. Merlin stood up and everything went dead silent.

"Captain Luccio, please enter into the court with the convicted warlock."He said and all eyes turned to the door as Luccio came in, pushing gently the warlock who had a black hood over his face. The convicted warlock looked to be a man and damn he looked small from where I was sitting.

"Captain Luccio, introduce the warlock to the court." Merlin's voice boomed again. Luccio nodded and began to speak.

"This warlock has been accused of controlling the minds of fellow mages to make them believe that he was not in forbidden libraries and has warped the minds of family members to make them believe that his long dead father was still alive. The warlocks name is Negi Springfield!" And she ripped off the hood…

… To reveal a freaking child.

He had longish brown hair and it was tied up into a small messy ponytail. He had large brown eyes which were now puffy from crying and his face had soft childlike features. He was flustered and as he looked around the court his small body shuddered with silent sobs. Pity and rage ran through me as murmurs rose around the court. I looked to Luccio who scanned the court until her eyes landed on me. They were pleading for me to do something.

I now know why I was made to attend the trial.

"There was no need to give us his name or reveal his face to the court Captain Luccio." Merlin said his left eye twitching. He then turned his attention to the child.

"Negi Springfield, do you object any of the charges that you have been accused of?" The child just looked up at Merlin and then broke out into even more crying. The bastard looked down at the child without a hint of mercy in his eyes.

"Then I, Merlin of the White Council hereby declare that you shall be executed immediately on the charges of mind control."

I bloody well stood up then. "I object!" I screamed ignoring the horrible use of the cliché line.

The Merlin rolled his freaking eyes then turned to look at me as if he was suspecting it to happen. "The child has not said anything against his charges, Warden Dresden and there is a substantial amount of evidence against him. He is a warlock and we shall execute him." His cold glare and the authority that was in his voice would have made me shut up any other day.

But not today.

"And he is also a child! He probably did what he did without even fucking knowing what he was doing. Look at him! Is that the eyes of stone cold killer? Does he act as if he is a god?" I spat on the ground. "This is merciless even by the White Council standards. He is still a child. He can change if we teach him the right ways. He does not need to be murdered." I emphasized the last word for good measure.

The Mer-, the monster just stared at me with cold fury in its eyes and you could feel its rage grew as more Wardens around me joined my cause. I stared back with what I hoped to be a hard ass glare.

The monster was about to scream me down until a voice boomed.

"I too agree with Warden Dresden." said Ebenezer McCoy. The monster whirled around and spoke furiously.

"We all know you favour Dresden, McCoy. So your thoughts are void on this subject."

"I also agree with Warden Dresden." Everyone turned to Ancient Mai, their faces in shock. Hell even I was slacked jawed.

"Warden Dresden saying that the child didn't even know what he was doing to the people around him is most likely correct." continued Ancient Mai. "Children of that boy's age rarely gain any sort of power at the start. Not enough to bend a mind at the very least. If they do though, their magic is largely affected by their emotions so the boy probably did it on a subconscious level. Mostly on these rare occasions by the time the child reaches puberty he would have a stronger control over his magic and the mind controlling on a sub conscience level should stop. Dresden is right; the child must be taught the right ways to use magic."

I looked at Ancient Mai with new found respect. She maybe stubborn as hell and merciless but if there are cold hard facts involved she wouldn't allow her emotions get the better of her. I was also extremely happy that she agreed with me; everyone knows she hates my guts so this should convince most of the Wardens.

The monster looked around it as it could see that everyone was turning against it. It looked down and took a deep breath and started thinking. It then held a hand up to silence everyone.

"After some thinking about what Warden Dresden and Ancient Mai have said." It took another deep breath and choked out the words "Instead of executing the child, he shall have the Doom of Damocles put upon him." Once the mo-Merlin said this there was uproar of cheer in the court. Well mainly me and a few others. But then Merlin put his hand up again.

"And since Warden Dresden…"

Oh no.

"…feels so strongly about the subject…"

Oh no, no, no.

"…he can teach Negi Springfield 'the right way'."

"I don't think that's a really good idea." I said trying to dump the responsibility of the kid on some other poor bastard.

"No, no I think it's a great idea. You'll do it Mr. Dresden. I order you to." His smile was so wide that I mistook him as the Cheshire Cat. A sick twisted Cheshire Cat. I was once again about to argue but the fight was out of me and I just grudgingly accepted my fate.

Merlin just dubbed me as Negi's teacher and all the responsibilities that go with it. If Negi goes ahead and accidently twists another person's mind we were both dead.

The sinking feeling in my stomach suddenly felt like a dead weight. Almost literally in this case.

After everyone dispersed so that they could go onto their own errands I was lead down into the lobby where Negi was being held.

"Hey kid are you al-oomph" I tried to say but the kid slammed into me at the speed of Mach 2 and I fell on my ass for the second time that day.

"Thank you. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." He cried. I smiled and hugged him back softly. I looked pass his shoulder to see Luccio smiling at me.

"Thank you Harry." She said.

"Heh, I think I heard that a bit too much today."

The doors to my left suddenly exploded open (and I'm not over exaggerating, the hinges literally came off) and it took me all of my will power not to melt who ever threw the door open. Two people appeared. One was a beautiful woman who was tall and slightly built. She had long blond hair and she had tears of joy streaming down her face. The other one was an old man that could've passed as the Disney's version of Merlin.

"Negi!" The woman screamed and she hurled herself on top of Negi which was really awkward because he was still hugging me. Negi yelled back "Sister!" and somehow managed to twist around between our two bodies and latched onto her. We stayed like that for a few minutes completely silent except for them quietly mewling out for each other until Disney Merlin coughed politely.

"Negi, when you were dragged out of your graduation ceremony…" He glared daggers at Luccio "you were not able to obtain your task to become a Magister Magi."

Negi untangled himself from us and walked up to Disney Merlin who produced a real old school scroll from his cloak and handed it to Negi. He unwrapped it and read its contents. Then his face lit up with surprise and happiness.

"I'm going to be an English teacher in Japan?"

Oh bullshit.

**Authors Notes:** Harry Dresden's POV. Oh yeah if you haven't noticed yet this is based after Changes and at the start of Mahou Sensei Negima. I'm well aware what happened at the end of Changes and I'm only going to say that it's because of magic. Anyhow hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully there will be another.


	3. Harry in Japan

Sorry for taking so long for the update. Had a lot on my plate. Anyhow.

"You're going where?" Screamed Murphy through the phone and just about blew out my ear drum. I was back in Chicago in a phone booth and was explaining, well trying to explain to Murphy what was happening.

"I'm going to Japan for a few months." I said in a tone I saved for convincing things not to gut me "I gained a new apprentice and it turns out that his uh school gives him a task so that he can fully graduate. So he's going to be an English teacher in Japan. "

"Uh-huh. So why do you have to go with him?"

"Because if he does something stupid because I'm not there than we are both dead courtesy of the White Council."

"Okay, okay. I presume there is another reason why you called me?"

"What? I can't call just to say goodbye to a friend. I'm Insulted!" I could practically see her arching one of her eyebrows at me. "Well if you're insisting. It's going to be hell coming up with an excuse to get my gun and staff through airport security without someone screaming terrorist and spear tackling me to the floor. So I was wondering if you could pull a few strings?"

"No can do. Even if I still held my other position there's no way in hell I could do that."

"Damn I thought so. Couldn't you like air mail it to me or something?"

"Maybe. I'll look into it for you."

"Thanks Murph. Also I wonder if you can keep an eye on Molly while I'm gone and explain the situation to her?"

"No problem. But won't it be dangerous for you go onto a plane?'

"Yeah but the kid told me he got some sought of sealing spell that makes me not able to use magic. So you shouldn't hear anything on the news."

"Ok Harry. Good luck."

I hung up the phone and made a few more phone calls to tell people where I was going. Then I got into a taxi and headed to Chicago airport. It was night time when I reached the airport and I still had to wait three more hours for the flight. I went inside and saw Negi waving at me rather enthusiastically and I went over to him.

"Hey kid, how you feeling?"

"Fine thank you Mr. Dresden." I got a little uncomfortable with the formality coming from the child. Aren't kids his age supposed to be rude and obnoxious?

"I like us to be on each other's good side since we're both relying on each other to live. Just call me Harry."

"Okay Mr. Dresden." Sigh.

"So you got that sealing spell thing for me?" I asked

"Sure do but let's head over into the toilets and I'll cast it on you so no one will see." He looked around a little nervously. I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Why don't you want to anyone to see your magic." I asked and felt rather stupid when he blinked at me slowly.

"Because if someone sees you doing magic you get turned into an ermine. It's a wizard's responsibility not to reveal magic to mortal society." He explained. It was my turn to blink at him slowly and I looked around to find a newspaper store. I found one and grabbed a yellow pages book and flipped through it until I found what I was looking for. Then I showed it to Negi.

I probably wouldn't have gotten a better reaction if I chainsawed his puppy right in front of him. His face turned pale white and his pupils shrunk. He then made noises that sounded like he was choking on barb wire. He then turned to me and pointed at me.

"Y-You-You're going to be turned into an ermine." He screeched. A few people nearby gave us strange looks.

"I've done this for over ten year's kid." I explained "And I'm still my cute furry self. Maybe it's just a story told to you guys so you won't reveal magic." He stared at me for a while to confirm what I just said. He then sighed not really accepting my answer. He still took me into the toilets though. He then started chanting a long winded spell that seemed to take hours but apparently only took a few seconds. A black band flew from his staff and wrapped around my wrist and the weirdest feeling I've ever felt came upon me.

You know how it's like being bloated right? It feels like your stomach has expanded and is bursting at the seams. Now imagine that all over your body. It was awkward as hell and the kid told me I will be feeling this for a whole day. We then went through all the security and the guards were giving me rather suspicious looks with my large duster and they scanned me for bombs more than three times.

Two hours later we finally boarded the plane and I felt nervous as hell. I was scared that the kids spell wasn't going to work and I found myself looking at the emergency exits of the plane and making a detailed plan on how to escape. Negi, bless his little soul, brought some sleeping tablets and I took more than was recommended.

Of course the stupid things didn't kick in until we landed 13 hours later. Everything from after we landed was a blur but I remember Negi practically carrying me which should have been impossible because I'm 6'9 and he was 5'2. But he someone how managed it. I woke up in a bed that smelt like a car freshener and a persistent annoying headache drumming in my head like nobody's business.

"You awake?" That innocent question almost made me blast the kid out of sheer surprise. I turned around and glared angrily at Negi.

"No." King of wit, that's me.

He simply smiled at me and got off his futon. Furta? Furtron? Man was I really out of it today. Must have been the sleeping pills. I then realized that the kid was already in his normal clothing that he wore last time I saw him. Who am I to complain? I still wore the same duster I had for years.

Room service knocked on the door. I answered but the young man didn't speak a word of English. I tried to speak some of the basic Japanese I learnt but he just gave me a confused look. I wasn't really paying attention in my Japanese class and further recalling's told me I didn't have a Japanese class. Negi saved the day and then turned to me.

"We need to leave soon. It's a bit of a walk and we only got two hours left." Negi said obviously trying to contain his excitement. It brought a soft smile to my face and I got ready and we headed off.

I looked around taking in my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was that it was pretty hectic and there were a lot of people pushing and shoving. The second thing I noticed was that everything was attacking my senses. Smells of food that made my mouth water and sounds of people talking and laughing were the only things I heard. Large posters bright in colours telling me to buy something were everywhere I looked.

The third thing I noticed that we were being followed.

For goodness sakes. I've been here for what a day? In a whole new country that seemed to be in a different dimension than Chicago and already someone has taken a dangerous interest in me? Can't I go anywhere without anyone trying to kill me.

I hadn't actually seen the person that was following us but my instincts screamed at me. I pretended to drop my bag and turned around to pick it up, looking for the mysterious follower. It turned out to be like looking for a white dot in a black background.

No more than 20 feet away a tall woman with dark skin and long black hair was staring at me. She had yellow eyes and had pupils that looked like ones of a cat and her facial features were sharp. She was beautiful as in a wolf stalking its prey kind of way. She wore a grey tank top which was tucked into a pair of jeans.

And how did I know she was my mysterious follower. She had a pistol in a holster which hung from a belt with pouches that most likely contained the ammunition. She was also glancing down at a picture and looking hard at me.

As assassinations go this wasn't exactly subtle or professionally done. But for some reason I still felt she could still pull it off and it scared the crap out of me. I turned around to Negi and forced a smile to my face.

"Hey Negi, I've just realized that I haven't got anything for lunch or dinner yet. I'm going to pop over to a convenience store and grab what we need. You go on ahead, I'll catch up." Negi looked like he was about to argue but I shoved my bags at him and turned to a convenience store.

"Okay, see you at the school." He said waving back at me whilst running off. I waved back and then it suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea how to get to the school in the first place.

"One thing at a time Harry." I muttered to myself "One thing at a time."

I pretended to window shop a bit to make sure that my mysterious assassin wasn't after Negi then began walking purposefully in the opposite direction of him. The assassin followed me keeping a safe distance. Fear welled up and I felt my heart pounding in my ears as I took in all the unfamiliar surroundings. Damnit I was not going to die in this place.

I turned into an empty alleyway and waited for her. She appeared a minute later and approached the entrance cautiously. She saw me and leveled her gun on me that had a silencer on it. It took all my will power not to flinch.

"Who hired you and why?" I asked and felt myself unconsciously angling my body away from her. A slow smile spread across her face that made a shiver ran down my spine.

"Hunters don't talk to their prey." Her English was heavily accented with a language that I couldn't put my finger on.

'Focus Harry, focus. She has a gun trained on you and looks like she can make you into one of those Bugs Bunny cartoons.' I knew I wouldn't be able to get anything from her and any sudden moves she'll blow my head off. But it looks like she won't go into an evil villain monologue any time soon to give me a chance to leg it. I had to think of something fast.

"You're running the creepy vibe quite hard there. You might as well get the cape and fake vampire teeth to complete the image." She smirked and readjusted her aim.

"You're quite the funny one aren't you? So clueless as well. Do you even know where you are? The importance of this place?" If there was a better line to act then my name isn't Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden.

"Yeah I know where I am. Three feet away where they'll find your body." I whipped out my blasting rod from its holding place in my duster and pointed it at her.

"_Forzare!"_ I screamed. The assassin dived to the side to dodged to the avoid the blast of…

Nothing. Completely nothing. I didn't feel the usual power well up in me or the release of the kinetic energy. Then realization hit me like a wrecking ball and I took a quick glance at my wrist to see the stupid fucking useless black sealing band staring right back at me. I looked back up to see the confused look of the assassin who was now picking up her gun.

"Damnit!" I cursed as I turned around and ran down the alleyway. I put my head down and hunched up my shoulder just in case. It was lucky I did because not three meters down the alleyway I felt a bullet hit the small of my back. The spell layered duster stopped it from penetrating but it still felt someone hit me as hard as they could in my back. I lost balanced and tripped over my feet. I hit the ground but managed to go into a roll and quickly got back onto my feet.

I made one more step before two more bullets hit more or less in the exact same place as before. I was more prepared for it this time so all they did was made me stumble. The mysterious assassin kept on firing and I swear to God she went Robin Hood style on me and hit the exact same place twice. By the time I reached the end of the alleyway which was 12 meters down she fired more or less ten rounds at me with superb accuracy. If it wasn't for my duster I would be a dead man.

I kept on running after I got out of the alleyway for about ten minutes taking as many corners as I could. I then ran into a little shop and waited for five minutes or so. Until I thought I was safe I cautiously stepped outside. Nothing happened and I sagged down to my knees in relief.

I had no clue who was trying to kill me and why. I suspected it had a link with my apprentice but I couldn't be quite sure. Then I remembered my apprentice and where I had to go. I got up and asked a few people for directions but they just gave me blank looks or shook their heads.

I then spotted a young girl in her school uniform that was running as fast as she could. She had shortish light brown hair that was made into small pigtails. She had brown eyes and had strong athletic legs. She looked quite anxious as she ran so I guess she was late.

It was a bit of a toss of the coin but I ran after her, hoping that she would lead me to the right school. It was a two minute run and the further we went the denser and how do I say this? More organized the crowd got. I soon arrived at a train station and saw the girl buying a ticket. Luckily for me Negi gave me some yen to look after myself.

I somehow managed to buy the ticket quickly from the machine even though everything was in Japanese and followed the girl onto a train. Every person on that train was a female student and I felt guilty and shameful for some reason. One of the girls offered me her seat and I suddenly felt very old. I took it anyway and sat down.

About five minutes later the girl got off the train. I was barely able to notice this because it seemed that every other girl was getting off the train as well and we all burst out. There was about a mile or two of road that led down to a large building which I presumed was the school. Everyone else was running and I felt the urge to do so to. It felt odd but good as air rush into my lungs and my legs pounding. All the other girls around me were laughing and talking as they ran.

My feeling of freedom was suddenly replaced with dread as I spotted my assassin up ahead in a school uniform. She looked back and spotted me, her eyes widening. She didn't do anything but kept running. I kept my eye on her all the way but nothing happened and I entered the school.

I walked down a few corridors and felt ridiculous. It was such a stupid plan following that girl and now I'm even more lost than before. I turned a corner and by what must have been God's given grace I bumped into Negi.

"Mr. Dresden! You made it just in time for my first class." He exclaimed and he grabbed hold of my wrist and pulled me along. He turned and glanced at me.

"Didn't you get any food?" He asked. I wasn't a very good liar so I decided to tell the truth.

"I got held up." Well it was the truth. He lead me to a classroom and another teacher was waiting for us there. She long blonde hair, blue eyes and had a pair of glasses on. She also had some er… rather large gifts.

"Negi you're just in time. The class is waiting for you." She handed him a black booklet, "This is every student in your class. Make sure you remember everyone quickly."

The kid looked nervous as he opened the door. A chalk duster fell down and levitated a top of his head for a second before the kid let it hit him. He then proceeded to trip over something and did a few rolls much to the entertainment to the class. Then the girls seemed to realize his age and ran to help him up. The blonde teacher bounced her way into class and said something in Japanese. There was a moment of shock silence then all the girls were all over him.

Damnit that kid was getting more action then I ever did in one moment. After the moment of excitement, Negi began talking in fluent Japanese but I managed to pick up my name and he turned towards the door and waved me in.

I gulped. I wasn't exactly teenage girl friendly with my large black duster and battle scars all over my face. I gulped again and held my breath as I walked into the classroom. There was another silence as all the girls eyes in the classroom landed on me. I shuffled around a bit and scanned the room.

My assassin was in the right corner of the room giving me a suspicious glare but I did not care at this moment as I was too nervous. Some girls were looking at me in horror. One red head girl in pigtails was so shocked that her face was red and her eyes were bulging. Her jaw was loose and she stared at me never looking away

I learnt with Molly that teenage girls relied on first impressions and decided from there what to do. I had to leave a good impression or I would be forever marked as the homicidal maniac or something. I knew some basic Japanese so I tried to say hello but I was too nervous to remember anything. I faced people's nightmares with more courage than this for goodness sakes.

"Come on Mr. Dresden." Whispered Negi and I had a bit more courage in me. Then I remembered how to say hello.

"Ni-Hao" I said and everyone except for one student who waved rather enthusiastically at me gave me a look that said 'You're weird'.

God damnit.


End file.
